Dollar drop spells good news for Australian tourism

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While the strong Australian economy has contrasted sharply against the austere woes of much of the rest of the world, a strong Australian Dollar has taken its toll on international tourism but with exchanges rates predicted to stabilise, Australian tourism could be set for a bumper year.

Deloitte are predicting a good year for Australian tourism in 2013 thanks to a better exchange rate of the Australian Dollar.

The strong dollar has impacted the Australian tourism industry in two ways: firstly, foreign tourists who realise their money won't buy them as much in Australia have chosen other destinations and secondly, domestic tourists have realised their money will go a lot further abroad and have taken international holidays in their thousands.

The strong Australian dollar has been largely a result of the mining boom which has kept the country's economy afloat in difficult economic times. However, with the mining industry beginning to stabilise and much of the world emerging from the shroud of recession, professional services giant Deloitte is predicting exchange rates to balance and the tourism industry to benefit.

"We are predicting growth of around 4.3% [in the tourism industry] over the next three years and that's broadly on par with the long term average," Lachlan Smirl of Deloitte Access Economics told ABC.

"The dollar has certainly been a factor for Australian tourism and I think it's come through most strongly on outbound travel by Australians, which as we know has shown double digit growth over the last decade.

"What we're seeing there though is outbound travel by Australians easing.

"And at the same time we know that income growth is such a big driver of travel, especially international travel. The fact that China and India and these markets that are becoming more significant to Australia continue to grow, these economies continue to grow at quite a strong pace, is ultimately a stronger support on the Australian tourism industry now."

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